The Red Queen Rises
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: The Team must stop the Red Queen before they lose Ariadne. Sequal to Mistress of the Maze and Joker's L
1. Chapter 1

** In all my stories, I like to keep Ariadne's and Arthur's back stories the same for the most part. I always have Ariadne being raised by her grandfather on the sailing yacht in my Dream Series. I just like that idea. What an awesome childhood and I never really explored that part of her. **

** This is a squeal to "Mistress of the Maze" and "Joker's Labyrinth". **

** Pls read "Mistress of the Maze" first. This won't make any sense other wise.**

The Red Queen Rises

~ The roses at her parent's dual funeral were red. They contrasted sharply with the matching black caskets. The somber old church lent it's weight to the seriousness of the situation. The ladies of the church where whispering in the shadows.

"Poor little thing."  
>"Hasn't even cried."<br>"Where will she end up?"

"The home I expect."  
>"No family?"<p>

"Just that louse of a grandfather."

"Aye, can't find him at all."

She had been the child that survived the awful car collision in England. Her young and lively parents were killed. She could only remember their faces now. Laying on the hot gravel. Bright red blood was everywhere. Twisted metal and police sirens.

The doctors thought she was the one who was seriously hurt at first. Her pink dress was soaked with her mother's blood. She had been in shock. Too surprised to cry out.

Her arm was cut. A deep frighting gash. The Doctors had to apply stitches as the child watched him with her big eyes.

She didn't complain of pain. She didn't even ask about her parents. She hadn't said much at all.

"What they used to call shell shock." The Doctors explained to the social workers.

She told the local authorities her name.  
>"Andrea?"<p>

"No... Ariadne." She said softly. They had looked at one another. Her parents were obviously some off beat free spirits. Or Greek even. Only explanation.

Ariadne sat alone in the church as a clergy man gave a simple prayer. None of the fine church ladies detached themselves from the shadows to give the child any comfort. They stood there. Hands to their chest. Flapping their lips at how said and morbid the little girl was. Not even shedding a tear for her own parents. Not even afraid of being an orphan in this world.

The heavy wooden doors suddenly opened wide. An older man strode in. He was magnificent. The kind of gentleman, the world no longer saw. He was dressed casually enough. His suit, spoke to his just arriving from a warmer climate. Her wild, silver hair and beard were handsome on his rugged face. His eyes, were a very piercing blue. Accented by the deep tan on his face.

Despite his advance years, he was trim and good looking. He carried himself with the air of good health. The fine church ladies stooped their clucking as they watched him.

A handsome prince arriving to rescue the fair maiden.

The newly arrived mysterious gentleman strode down the pew to sit next to the broken little girl. He said nothing as the Pastor finished the prayers and commended her parents to God's eternal life.

The older gentleman sighed. Made a brief sign of the cross. Finally he looked over at the dark haired little girl.

"Child. My name is Aries. I am your Mother's Papa." He said with a heavy accent.

Ariadne looked at the man. He looked like someone from an old movie. His looks were devilish. Interesting.

She returned her gaze to her parent's matching black caskets. The wash of harsh, red roses sprayed over them.

"I was hoping you would come and live with me?" He asked.

His fine blue eyes looking at the caskets.

"I have a nice little ship. I call her _The Minotaur._ After the great legend of Theseus. After yourself, my Ariadne."

The child kept focused on the caskets. She didn't like those red roses. Didn't like those women whispering in the shadows.

"I would love for you to see my ship." Her Grandfather went on. "She is a beauty. I wanted to call her Ariadne after yourself. Alas, you sweet Mama would not allow me." He chuckled.

"Minotaur, like the one in the maze?" Ariadne said slowly. Her voice sounding strange in her own ears.  
>"Yes. Yes. My Ariadne." He said. A smile lighting up his handsome face. "Would you like to go sailing on my ship?"<br>"They say I have to go and live in a home." She said casting a suspicious eye at the church ladies.

"_I_ will be your home." Her grandfather said confidently. "And you shall be mine." He said taking her little hand in his.

The old gentleman's hand was worn and dry. Wrinkled and cracked from years of living. But they were warm and comforting to her. She allowed him to take her out of that place of death. Away form the shadowy church ladies. Away form those red roses.

~ She woke up screaming. The sound of the ocean had rocked her to sleep the first few nights. But now she had gotten used to the new place, her memories invaded. Insidious thoughts and images of the accident kept visiting her dreams.

"Papa!" She cried out in the darkness for her grandfather. "Papa! Help! Help!"

The fine gentleman came to her tiny bedroom on the sailing yacht.

"What is it my sweet?" He said to her. Letting the tiny little girl curl into his arms. She cried and cried as he stoked her back.

"I keep seeing it!" Ariadne wailed. Her child's brain failing to force the sight of the accident from her eyes. The red blood. The red roses.

"Now." Her grandfather said sympathetically. "You lay back down. Shall I tell you a story, my sweet? To chase away the bad thoughts?" He offered.

She nodded as the fine old gentleman covered her back up. The smell of his cigars on his clothing. A rich comforting smell. Unique to him.  
>"Let me see, let me see." He started and looked around his learned brain for something useful.<br>"Once, there lived a powerful Queen. She lived in the top room of a tall tower. She was evil and her heart was cold. She enslaved all the people of the realm with lies she would tell them. She could go into their dreams. She would learn what scared them. She would disguise herself as people they trusted and trick them. She would use their own fear to bend the people to her will. To make them love her and worship her like a God."  
>Ariadne's eyes were bright as she gazed at her grandfather.<br>"Now, as it is with all stories of a wicked Queen, there was a young girl. She was pure of heart and very brave. She could not be fooled by the Queen or her trickery. This made the Queen angry. So the Queen sent her armies on the hunt for the child. But they could not find her. For the little girl was very smart and stayed hidden."

The fine old gentleman's eyes sparkled at he wove the story.  
>"The little girl would sneak into the tower, rescuing those the evil Queen had enslaved. She was fearless and noble. She liberated all those the Queen had tricked and lied to. They rebelled against the Queen. Tore down her tower. Sent it crashing to the earth."<p>

"Did the little girl become the new Queen?" Ariadne asked. Her grandfather looked thoughtful  
>"That, my sweet Ariadne, I do not know. For the Queen and the girl both vanished. No one knows what became of them."<br>"Did the Queen kill the little girl?" Ariadne asked.

"Oh no, my sweet." Her Grandfather chuckled. His smile breaking over his face.

"The girl was a _hero_. Hero's never die do they?" He chuckled again.  
>"No. They are put into the stars and live forever."<p>

"Did the girl kill the Queen?" She asked.

"Alas, Villains do not die either." He said sadly. "They must live on. So the hero can have a purpose. For what is a hero without a villain?" The fine gentleman asked.

Ariadne nodded.

"Now. I forbid anymore bad dreams to visit you this night. If the bad dreams come back, you send them to your Papa, eh?" He said gruffly. A twinkle in his fiery blue eyes. "I will show them who is stronger." He said curling up his bicep.

Ariadne had to laugh.

His kissed her. His warm breath smelling of his whiskey and tobacco. An earthy smell mixed into the rough smell of sea air.

"Good night my sweet." Her grandfather said. "Bad dreams can never hurt you." He said.

She nodded and smiled.

Believing him.

~ Ariadne felt cold. He hands were hurting. Something wet was on her skin. Dripping on the floor. The wetness was warm and slippery.

"Ariadne?" Came a voice out of the darkness.

The world was coming back to focus. She was holding something. Her hands were red. Covered in blood. Her own blood. She was holding a knife. Her hands were bleeding. Open wounds on her hands. Opened by the knife.

"Ariadne!" Arthur shouted. His voice worried and scared as she watched her red blood drip on the black floor.  
>"Am I... Am I sleeping?" She asked before passing out.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

2.

~ Like a caged animal, the Red Queen howled with rage.  
>"You horrible girl! <em>You horrible girl!<em> Let me out! I'll cut you!"

Ariadne could feel the creature with in her own mind rattling her bars in fury. Looking for a weakness in the Architect's defense.

"Let me out!" The Red Queen screamed again.  
>"Ariadne?" Arthur said soothingly. His warm hands finding hers. Long fingers wrapping comfortingly around hers.<p>

She snapped back into the real world. Her mind had wandered off again.

"I'm alright." She said brightly. He smiled. That slight grin only she was allowed to see.

"Your hands are cold." He said softly as the lift pulled them slowly up to the top floor of the warehouse.  
>"It's winter." She said simply. Her fingers feeling like ice inside his warm palms.<p>

Inside the elevator, they were blissfully alone. No one saw the tender, chaste kiss the Point Man planted on her temple. Soothing the screeching of the Harpie inside.

Ariadne blushed and her gaze fell on her other hand. The one not held protectively by Arthur.

She was transfixed.

Her skin smooth as cream. No scars or wounds of any kind.

'There had been blood.' She thought. Such an odd thing to pop into her head at that moment. 'Blood all over my hands. Warm and sticky. Red blood dripping on the black floor. Arthur, calling me'

Her hands and wrist looked perfect as always. She sighed. It had been another dream. She had been having a lot of very strange dreams lately. None of them following any narrative. Nothing memorable about them but the feel. Her heart racing as she woke up each night.

The sound of the Red Queen in their apartment. Stalking them. Her maniacal scissors cutting through the air. The eerie snipping as the demon hunted for the Architect.

"I'm so proud of you." Arthur said suddenly. Forcing her back to reality yet again.

"What?" She asked. Confused.  
>"You have really come along way. I mean it's only been a few weeks since the thing in Gotham, and your sleeping with the the lights off." He told her. His voice soft and pleasant. The nice tone he used with her and her alone.<br>"Oh. Yeah. I guess I came out of it." She said feeling awkward.

"I know it was hard for you." He said sympathetically.

"Yes. It was. I'm fine now." She said robot like.

How could she tell him she no longer feared the whispers in the dark because she had started to listen to them? All the time she could hear them. Hissing. Screaming. Their haunted voices lulling her to sleep.

And then... blood on the black floor. Her hands... bleeding.

"Ariadne?" Arthur's voice came back to her like a light in the dark fog.

"Yes?" She said. Pulled from her reverie.

"Are you sure your alright?" He asked.  
>"Of course I am." She said trying to act like herself.<p>

"We can go home if you want. You can rest." He offered.

"No." She said stiffly. She forced herself to smile. "No. Someone has to teach you the new maze."

~ Inside the maze of the dream, Ariadne could feel something was lurking. Creeping out of the hidden places.

"Ariadne?" Arthur asked.

She turned and looked at the Point Man. His gaze hard but concerned. He was all business right now. As the team listened to Cobb describing their new mission.

"What this will be, is a general extraction. I'll need to bring Yuseff in again. It requires a lot of work. It's the extraction of an... unsavory individual. Similar to the job we did at Arkham." The Extractor said.

The Architect's head snapped up. Her heart beating fiercely in her chest.

"Another nut job?" She questioned. "You said no more maniacs."

"I know I did." Cobb told her. But this nut job has kidnapped tortured and killed seven women in less then three months. Two of them are still unaccounted for." Cobb smoothed out his hair and looked at each of his Team members.

"Arabella Marks." He sighed wearily.

"The Spider Woman?" Arthur said doubtfully.

"Who is that?" Ariadne asked.

"You don't watch a whole lot of news do you?" Eames teased.

"It's very rare to find a woman serial killer. Arabella Marks earned the nickname _The Spider Woman_ because of how she would string up her victims. Their arms and legs prostrate. Cut a hole in their neck and drain their blood dry. Like a spider." Arthur told them.  
>"Oh my God." Eames said. "She was as bad as the Joker."<p>

"Were not mentioning that name." Arthur chastised. "Wayne had us all sign a confidentiality contract."  
>"Right." Eames said rolling his eyes.<p>

"Marks says the other two women are still alive. That they won't be for much longer unless we get the information as to where they are." Cobb said.

He showed the Team photographs. Two young women. Not unlike Ariadne. Happy and beautiful.

Arthur looked darkly troubled.

"Cobb, we all know these girls are probably dead already." He said.  
>"We don't <em>know<em> that." Cobb said. His voice angry.

"Cobb." Arthur said, giving his old friend a stern look. Ariadne sucked in a breath at seeing the grizzly crime scene photos. Blood. Everywhere.

Those poor women had been slaughtered. Their bodies looked cannibalized.

Something turned over in her at seeing the red. Feeling the sensation of that color. Something wishing to claw itself out of her.

She looked in the corners of the maze again. Whispering coming from the darkness. Beckoning to her. Irrationally, she wanted to run to it.

Cobb was briefing them in a dream. A place the Team could be certain to be alone and not overheard. A place where anything was possible.

It was a world she had designed and dreamed. A place where dark things still hid.

Wayne had taught her to become immune to her fear of the dark. She had found a bravery inside herself to the things hiding there. But she knew, they were still there.

In the dream, anything was possible.

"Cobb, no." Arthur said looking worriedly at the Architect.

"Arthur, what if one of these women had been someone we cared about? What if it were Ariadne she had?" Cobb said.

The Extractor clearly had lost sleep over the idea of what Marks had done.

"Remember what happened last time?" Arthur barked. "Things didn't work out very well." the Point Man reminded him.

The Team's decent into the mind of Gotham's phantom, the Joker, had ended with that monster taking possession of the dream. The Team never knew about Wayne becoming a beast or Ariadne splintering herself again and letting loose the Red Queen. It was a closely guarded secret. One that if they knew about, would cause Cobb to pull her off all dream extractions.

"Were prepared for that." Cobb said. "We'll be ready this time." He assured them.

"We better get hazard pay out of this one." Eames huffed.

The Forger shrugged.

"It's just a dream Arthur. What's the worst that could happen?" He laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

~ "I wonder why Cobb is so interested in this?" Ariadne said softly as she rolled lavender lotion over her hands and wrists. Looking at them with curiosity.

"I don't know. Whenever Cobb get's an idea in his head..." Arthur said as he climbed into their bed. "He get's possessed by it sometimes."

Since her terrible car accident, the Point Man had taken the Architect home with him. They made no formal declarations of this. At first, he was just helping her to get better from her accident. Then her night terrors. The intimacy they sometimes shared felt deeper to him then just the physical.

It was easy with Ariadne. She asked for no affirmations of his love. No promises. Accepting that tomorrow, this might all end between them.

"Are you coming to bed?" He asked as she was lost over looking at her hands and wrists.

"Hum? Oh yes." She said numbly. "I just... I had a funny dream."

"About what?"  
>"I think... I think cut myself on my hands." She said in a trance. "That I was bleeding on the floor."<p>

Her mind came back down to Earth when she caught his worried expression in her mirror.

"I'm sorry." She forced herself to laugh. "It was just a dream."

He smiled at her. Looking inviting in their comfortable bed.

"So... if you want to sit this mission out... I'll understand. We all will. I mean after Gotham." He offered.

"No." Ariadne said forcefully. "I told you, I'm part of this Team. I go into the field with all of you."

She abandoned her night table and went to him. A brief reprieve from the things watching her in their hiding places.  
>"Besides, I think it helps. Going into the dream." She said as she snuggled into his capable arms. His long lean body felt comforting and safe around her.<p>

"How so?" He whispered kissing her demurely on the neck. She cuddled deeper.  
>"I feel less... afraid. When I'm down there." She whispered. "I'm not afraid of the dark anymore." She told him.<p>

"I know. That's good." He said softly. His hands lacing in her hair. His warm lips kissing away bad thoughts from her mind and she tumbled into the well of sleep.

~ It was dark. She had fallen asleep so quickly she had not realized Arthur had tuned off the light. She could hear them. Hissing and slithering on the floor.

"Arthur?" She whispered. She could not feel his arms around her. A terrible sense of being alone was upon her. His side of the bed was cold and empty. She was defenseless.

Still the hissing and movements in their dark bedroom continued. Like a frightened rabbit, Ariadne huddled perfectly still. Her eyes wide as her ears strained for the noises. For the whispers.

"_And still we come, and still we come. _

_Marching to your door. _

_Hear us now, hear us now._

_Crawling on your floor."_

It was an eerie nursery rhyme song that the whispers sang in a communal voice. Getting closer and closer.

She could feel something moving across her bed. Sliding along the bed covers. Hissing and advancing in the darkness. She remained still. Her body tense. Afraid to look at the monster that had slithered into her bed. She could feel a cold heavy thing move over her body, snake like. Poised and ready to strike.

"_Were here." _

"Ariadne?" Arthur's voice came back as she could feel the terrible snake about to attack. She sat up as he turned on the light.

Nothing was there. No snake, no whispers. Their little room was empty.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." He said kissing the top of her head as she looked wildly at their covers and the floor. Her breathing rapid as her heart was beating wildly.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Climbing back into bed.  
>"Yes, she said putting a hand to her chest. "Just... just a bad dream." She said sadly. Hoping he would buy it.<p>

She had not been dreaming. She knew what she heard.

"Come here." He said with an amused little smile. "No more bad dreams." He said as she laid back into his arms.

She sighed as she let herself relax against his hard muscular body. As comfortable as any bed or pillow. She allowed her eyes to close.

Suddenly his warm skin was replaced by cold slimy scales and hissing. She opened her eyes to see her bed had become a pit of snakes. Writhing and moving over each other. Over her.

She screamed wildly as she tried to escape. Her panic making the serpents attack and bite her. Their cold bodies all over her, touching her skin.

She cried out in fear and pain as they bit her over and over.

"Ariadne!" Arthur's voice came back to her. She was free of their bed clothes. Her body huddled on the floor, Her back to the wall. She had pulled her knees up to her chin as she fought back the images of those snakes.  
>The Point Man was next to her. His eyes worried.<p>

"What happened?" He asked. "Tell me what happened!"

His voice, normally so loving and kind was sharp and sever. She could never not do what he commanded when she spoke to her like that.

She looked over her body, her hands and wrists. Nothing. No bites, no blood. Her skin was perfect and free of marks or blemishes. Noting to indicate she had ever been bitten.  
>"I... I thought I saw snakes." She cried. Fat ugly tears coursing down her face as her panic took control of her body. "I... I thought..." She cried then as he held her. Terrible sobs that left her exhausted.<p>

She wasn't sure how or when it had happened, Arthur taking her back to their bed. She was suddenly too worn out to care.

She fell into a dreamless void with no memory of nightmares.

~ "Arabella Marks perpetrated a rein of terror for months before she was caught 3 days ago." A somber looking doctor said. Cobb and his Extraction Team stood in a brightly lit office as a state appointed physiologist explained.  
>"It's very rare to capture a<em> female<em> serial killer. Especially one as complex as Miss Marks. Her killings were... ritualistic and brutal. Her victims were all women. All of them young with dark hair and eyes." He went on, looking worriedly at Ariadne.

Arthur's long frame moving slightly to conceal her from view.  
>"At the time of her capture," The gruff District Attorney chimed in, rolling his eyes at the doctor. "She had the blood of two more victims on her clothing. She explained to us that there are two more victims. That they are still alive and won't be unless she is remanded to a privet mental hospital for life instead of the death penalty. If we agree, then she will tell us their location."<p>

"Naturally, we don't want to let this monster live out her life in luxury." Cobb said. His brow pulled into a deep scowl.

"Is there any chance these two women are still alive? If they even existed at all?" Arthur asked. His tone pessimistic.

"They did a run on the blood." The District Attorney said. Liking Arthur's intelligent questions. "The blood found there did not match any of the victims found dead in her basement or underneath her floor boards."

"She put them under her floor?" Ariadne asked. "Like... like in Poe?" Her voice sounded small and mouse like as her own heart started beating loud enough for all the room to hear.

_Boom, Boom, Boom, You wicked girl! Boom, Boom._

As if the Forger could read her mind or hear her heart beating like in the story, he turned to the Architect. A smile on his face.  
>"The beating of the hideous heart." He said.<p>

"We know Miss. Marks kept her victims alive for days before she strung them up and exsanguinated them. She normally held them is a disused industrial building. She had privacy there. Could perform the blood letting. She would then take their bodies back to her home and stash them under the dining room floor. If these last victims are still alive we must do everything in our power to save them, Mr. Cobb." The District Attorney said. Looking suddenly worn out and defeated.

He looked at the Team with worried eyes.

"We are preparing for trial right now. We need witnesses. Testimony. We can not have this... evil let lose on a technicality." He sighed. "I have to have some... happiness from all this death. From pulling those women from under that house."


	4. Chapter 4

4.

~ "It's snowing." Ariadne said sadly. Her gaze was transfixed on the delicate snowflakes falling down to the earth. Already the ground was white from the sudden blizzard. Coating everything and sending the world into a deep sleeping spell all it's own.

Night had finally come and the infirmary was still and empty except for the Team, the Doctor and the DA.

The Monster, was an ordinary looking woman. Her hair had been dyed the color of fire. Tattoos littered her arms. Her painfully thin body sleeping on the infirmary bed.

"I hope, sir, that this will be alright." The Doctor said to Cobb as the District Attorney stood close by. His eyes fixed on the slumbering Monster.  
>Several armed, uniformed Police officers stood nearby.<p>

"It'll be fine." Cobb said as Ariadne looked at the armed guards nervously.

The petite Architect took off her red wool coat. Placing it on a nearby chair as she settle herself on one of the infirmary beds.

"How long will this take?" the District Attorney asked as Arthur set up the PASIV device. Handing each of them a white thread.

"As long as it takes." Arthur said coldly. The DA gave the Point Man and hard look.

"Son, those women your looking for, they may outside. You saw how cold it is. We have to find them quickly." The DA said.

"We will." Cobb said as the Team took positions on the hospital beds.

"Sweet dreams." the Doctor said before sending them into the dreams of the Monster.

~ "It's snowing." Ariadne whispered as she opened her eyes to the dream.

What awaited her was not the dream she built at all but a vast, ancient wall. Heavy snowfall softening the roughly hewn stone work. She slowly turned around to find herself completely alone. Surrounded by the open, haunted corridors of a maze.

The rock walls were black from age and decay. All around them grew thorny, vine like roses. Creeping their insidious life into the cracks of the stone facade. The blossoms were a blood red. A stark contrast to the white snow and black wall. A unexplainable knowing loomed within her. This place was evil.

"Arthur?" Ariadne called. Pulling her red wool coat on tighter. Fighting a chill that could not be real in the depths of the dream.

'What had happened?' She wondered. Had the Monster taken possession of the dream like the Joker did? Impossible, they had prepared for just such an event.

Her breath was escaping from her lips in delicate puffs. Crystallizing in the dead world of rocks, snow and roses.  
>"Hello? Cobb? Eames! Arthur!" She shouted. Hoping her frail voice would carry over the walls and she could find her Team.<br>The snow was falling heavier now and her basic animal instinct told her she could not stay in this desolate, dead place. The sky was fading from a stormy gray, to an inky night. Only the moon was able to shed light on her as she marched along the maze. Pulling the roses off the vines. Leaving a trail of red rose petals in her wake. Part of her knowing sadly that the falling snow would obliterate any trail she tried to leave for herself.

She had spent the past few months designing mazes. She knew the tricks. She stayed close to the right side. Almost hugging the wall. When ever she came to a fork or cut off, she kept right. Such a practice would lead her around to the opening, a way out.

The black walls towered over her and the creeping evil roses caught her coat and scratched at her pale skin. Deep enough to draw blood. She gasped as seeing her own red blood escaping her flesh and falling onto the snow. The walls were broken in places, their bareness like an open wound. This was a place not visited in a very long time.

"Arthur!" She called out helplessly again. Nothing but silence greeting her. She wanted him here. Wanted to follow and trust him. She had become so helpless lately. Not at all like her normal nature. Her confusion becoming worse over the past few days.

'How many days had it been since Gotham? The last time things made any sense.' She thought as she tried to ignore the things moving in the dark recesses of the labyrinth.

Just out of her field of vision, out of sight, she caught a glimpse of small, animal like creatures. Hugging the walls and scurrying away form her. Laughing as they did so.

The brutal snow was falling heavily now. Coating her in a white blanket that clung to her coat, hair and eye lashes. She was so tired. This maze had no end. No way out. It just went deeper and deeper. The cold was penetrating and painful. She stumbled over a rose vine buried in the snow. Falling face down into the snowy depths.

The laughter of the things in the darkness coming out. Mocking her.

She felt a specter close in above her as she closed her eyes. Falling asleep in the dark cold empty maze. She could feel she was no longer alone, but was too tired to care.

~ With delight, the Child found the door. She had awoke to discover herself wandering the maze. Renewed sense of energy and life. The cold not bothering her as she wadded through the snow bank. She spied a door. Heavy, metal and almost obscured but the creeping rose vines. Their sharp thorns waiting to prick her. Hungry for her blood.

The door was locked fast but a rusted, forgotten key was still held in it's lock. Inviting entrance.

'Stay away.' The thought jumped into her head. Without a reason or origin. 'It's a bad place.' The thought persisted.

Ignoring it, the Child turned the lock. It's tumblers clanking and falling away. The metal door giving way as the Child pushed with all her might against the door. As if my magic, the Child left the desolate snow fallen world behind and found herself in an building. Modern but disused and, like the maze outside, left to rot.

It was a strange industrial building. Probably once used to build things. A factory. A cold institutional place even when it was still alive. Now, it was dead and decaying.

The Child felt her footfalls were too loud. That she was not supposed to be here, empty and unloved though this place was.

She had to find Cobb, Arthur and Eames. She couldn't sense them in this place. Knowing that meant the Red Queen could be upon them. Cutting their skin, sewing their flesh. Humming that morbid little tune of hers.

And what of Arabella Marks? She had never shared a dream with the Monster before, but her skin shivered at the idea that she was helpless before such a ghastly creature.

A fleeting gimps of movement caught her attention. Not one of the creatures that hide in the shadows. Nothing so malicious or cowardly as them. Instead it was a figure, brass and bold. Ignoring the Child as she walked just out of her line of sight.

"Wait!" The little girl said giving chase. A tangible link to another person. Hopefully a member of her lost Team. An explanation as to what had happened to the dream.

The strange figure was fast and flitted out ahead of her at an impossible speed. It's movement's so quick that the Child could not see them until it was several strides ahead. It's face hidden.  
>"Hey!" She called again. Her voice small as she hurried on her small legs to catch up. "Wait!"<p>

The figure pulled a door free and vanished behind it. The child just reaching it in time for it to close and lock soundly.

As much as she tried, she could not force the wretched door open. It was too heavy and the locks were too sure. She resulted in banging on the metal. It's noise creating a nice echo through the dead building.

With a click, she heard the door unlock it's self.

The Child stepped away. For the first time she listened to the thought.

'It's not too late to run.' That voice inside her whispered softly.

The Child pushed the idea away as she pulled the door open. A warm, bright light greeted her. An impossible place.

Arabella Marks stood before her in magnificent glory. Her flame colored hair giving her all the wrathful beauty of a demon from hell.

"Tis some visitor, entreating entrance to my chamber door. This it is, and nothing more." She said with a wicked grin.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

~ The Child's courage felt stunted by the sight of the Monster. Just as fearsome as the Red Queen and perhaps more so. The Monster's cave was decorated in rich tapestries of warm orange and yellows. A bright fire blazing in a roughly worked fire place.

"Come in." Arabella Marks offered kindly. "I'll admit, I was looking for you, only to have you come to me."

"Why... why were you looking for me?" The Child stuttered as her legs pulled her inside.

"That's not important right now. What matter's is your here and your going to help me find the Red Queen. I don't have much time left." The Monster confessed.

Arabella Marks was preparing tea for the both of them. Like a gracious lady, offering it to company.

"Do you like sugar?" The Monster asked. Holding a steaming cup up for the girl to take.

"I don't know where the Red Queen is." The little girl said softly. Her bad eye reflecting the light of the fire. Giving it an unnatural glow.  
>"Of course you don't." Arabella Marks said with a courtly smile. She looked at the Child with a secretive look.<p>

"I... we... came here to find out what you did to those women." The Child said screwing up her courage. "We have to find them."

"You can't find them." The Monster said coldly.

"We have to!" The Child pleaded. "They'll die!"

"You don't understand." Marks said with a sigh. Putting her tea cup down and looking at the child with a hard gaze.

"There are no women. I've murdered no one." The Monster said in a kind and forgiving tone.  
>"I saw the crime scene photos, I spoke with the D.A and the Doctor. I know what you did." The Child accused.<br>"Do you now?" The Monster said with and amused smile. "Well, since we know everything, tell me where to find your little counterpart?" She said. Leaning in close to the Child. Her wild, mad eyes flashing in the light.

"My counterpart?" The Child asked.  
>"When you mind broke, the Red Queen and you came from the same person. She is just as much apart of you as you are of her." Marks said. Her voice course and angry.<p>

"No, your wrong." The child said.

"Really?" The Monster laughed. Sitting up to an impressive height. "Well, no matter. She will come to me now that I have you, Little Bird." The Monster said with an appeased smile.

The magic of the dream bended to the Monster's will as the cave morphed and changed into a deep, dark well. One which the child was suddenly at the bottom of. The water was freezing as she fought to gain a grip on the slippery stones. She couldn't climb her way out. Her fingers, failing to catch hold.

"Help!" She screamed as the cold penetrated her core. "Help!"

The Child's voice echoed through the cave as the Monster stood above the ring of the well. Gazing lazily down at the helpless little girl.  
>"Please." The Child cried. "I'll die."<p>

"No, you won't." The Monster said kindly. "Don't worry."

~ A strange little melody moved through the walls of the cave. As if aroused by the Child's screams of fright and help. A haunted ghost of a lullaby that had become twisted and used to frighten more then soothe.

"When the rabbit screams the fox comes, but not to help." The Monster said wearily.

~ The Red Queen, in all her great and furious beauty wandered effortlessly through a catacomb of tunnels. Her pet's whispering things to her. Guarding themselves against the light. Hiding in the shadows as they looked forward to their feed.

The Queen could feel the Child was close. Helpless and scared. Screaming for help. A smile played briefly over her fair skin as her dead eye gleamed. Her scissors flashing out from the folds of her red dress.

She knew the Monster was close. She knew that she could vanquish that creature just as easily as she defeated the Joker. Then, her pets would feed. The Child would be destroyed and she would be freed into the waking world.

~ "She's coming!" the little girl screamed from her prison in the well. "Please, I have to get out of here! I can't let her kill me!"

"She won't." The Monster said. Her wild eyes watching an ancient door.  
>The anticipation of the Red Queen's arrival felt like the horrible beating of a forgotten heart. The pounding the Child's own heart was making all other sounds fall away.<p>

"Please!" She cried helplessly again. "She's close! She's closer now!"

"I know." The Monster said softly. Never taking her gaze off the metal door knob as it slowly started to turn.

"She's here." the Child cried softly.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

~ A hand snaked over the door. Pale fingers, long and spidery. The Monster held her ground as the Red Queen released her pets into the room.

Like zombies, they stumbled out of the catacomb. Hissing and leering up at their fiery foe. Their pale skill a sharp contrast to their red lips. Stained from their last feeding. They coward away from the Monster as if afraid of her. They sensed her dominance in the dream and that she was not afraid of things that hid in the shadows.

"So you are the Monster." The Red Queen purred. Her dictation perfect and cold. The Queens long frame was larger and more menacing then the Monster's. It was easy to see why so many before her were frightened of this demon.  
>"I am." The Monster said. Unafraid of such a creature.<br>"Funny, you don't _seem_ very dangerous." The Queen said circling her.

The pets in the shadows, laughing and waiting for the Queen to cut the Monster with her scissors. Waiting for the blood to be spilled.  
>"Most of the time, I'm not." The Monster admitted. "Dreams, are another matter."<p>

~ From her hiding place deep in the well, the Child heard all of this. She waited as she knew then end was near. The Queen would kill the Monster. All without gaining the information they needed.

After Arabella Marks woke, her subconscious would protect itself from future intrusion. They would not be able to save those women and it would be all her fault. She had compromised this mission.

~ The Red Queen raised her sharp scissors to the Monster.

"Don't you have something you want to ask me first?" Marks asked.

The Red Queen paused. Her attack eminent.

"What?" The Queen asked. Her face distorted in malice. Questioning the Monster.

"You came here to find something out. Where I hid them. Where I put the women." Marks said. Her wild eyes focused solely on the Queen. As if watching a dangerous animal. One that would attack at any moment.  
>"What make you think I care?" The Queen said cutting the air with her scissors. The slicing sound was loud and chilling.<br>"Do you want to know where they are?" The Monster asked. Her voice bold and unfeeling.

The Red Queen regarded the Monster for a long time. Her good eye trained on the fiery one. Her dead eye reflecting the flicking light of the fire. Ghost like.

"Tell me." The Queen asked.

"Over there, through that door." The Monster said. Looking over her shoulder at a little red door. Painted bright red. Taking her gaze off the queen for just a moment.

In that moment, the Queen attacked.

~ Animal like screams tore through the air, ripping sounds as the hungry creatures from the shadows were ravenous for their food. Awful cries of pain and struggle reverberated down the well as the Child covered her ears to such abominations.

Silence then. So profound and empty that the Child could hear her own breathing. Hear the blood running in her veins. She was frightened. More afraid then she had ever been in the dream before. She huddled in the cold well as she tried to control her breathing.

The steady unearthly lullaby coming out across the cave. It's sorrowful song impending the news that the Red Queen was there. Had beaten the Monster.

There was a sudden noise that broke the dead air and the Child looked up. She saw eyes peering back at her. Reflecting the light of the fire.

"I see you." A voice said above her.

The Child whimpered helplessly as she hugged the slippery walls. Trapped in the well. Awaiting her doom. Those eyes glaring over her.

'Eyes that had the seeming of a demon that is dreaming.'


	7. Chapter 7

7.

~ Victory was always sweet. The Monster had been formidable. A true adversary. Not like the Joker who gave into her so easily.

The Queen watched as her pets began devouring the Monster piece by piece. She was still alive as they feed. The blood still dripping wet off the scissors.

Inexplicably, The Queen's gaze was draw to the red door the Monster pointed out. An insatiable curiosity took hold of the demon. She had to see what lay beyond the door. If the women were truly there, the Child could wait. She wasn't going anywhere.

The spider's door was bright red and enticing. Like candy, one was forbidden to have. The scroll work on the door was fantastic and almost story book like. All the Queen had to do was to turn the key, and she would enter the Monster's heart.

The Queen could hear her pets feeding as she turned the key slowly in the lock. Her tall body crouching gracefully down to gain entrance into the dark recesses of the Monster's mind.

The power of the dreamer moved walls and the Queen fond herself standing on a sharp and narrow ledge. The fall below impossibly deep. So far the fall was, that light could not reach it.

The Queen, preserving herself, turned back around. Retreating back the way she came. Feeling nothing but cold slippery stone behind her. The red door leading into the Monster's cave was in front of her now, not behind. The door was not reachable from the queens high precipice. The well was too great. She was trapped.

"Paradox, Bitch." Came the Monster from the door.

The Queen watched in horror as the Monster appeared at the little opening of the spider's door. Her fiery hair and wild eyes gleaming at her from the warm cave into the cold depths of the well the Queen was trapped in.  
>"How? Your not the dreamer. You can't hijack this dream." The Queen said in her lovely melodic voice. Haunting this place she was now trapped in.<p>

"What makes you think I'm not the dreamer?" The Arabella Marks laughed.

The Monster closed the small red door on the Queen. Leaving her howling in impotent rage. Her screams turning into screeches as the Harpie bloomed, too late. Trapped forever in the darkness with no way out.

~ The Monster turned to the things that hid in the shadows. Cowering before her now like beaten dogs.

"You have a new master now." The Monster growled. They cowered further into the shadows until they vanished. Not even ghosts of what they had been. Nothing was there in the darkness.

The Monster peered over the lip of the well. Seeing the Child helpless in the cold dank well. Her red dress floating all around her. Her dead ghost eye flashing.

"I see you." The Monster said softly.

The Child only whimpered.

"I am sorry, but this is the way it has to be. We can not have one without the other." Arabella said sadly. "So long as you live, so does the Red Queen." The Monster threw over a hidden trap door. Sealing the Child in the well for all time.  
>"No!" Screamed the little girl. "No! Please! I'll die!"<p>

"I know." The Monster said sadly. "What sweet rest there must be in the grave." She added wearily as music began to play.

~ Arthur sat in the snow next to Ariadne as he heard the music. Not his own wake up music but another's.

"It's done." Arabella said emerging from the hidden depths of the rock maze. The Point Man guarded Ariadne's cold, unresponsive body as the Monster assisted him in placing the defibrillator pads on the Architect's chest.

With a violent jolt, Ariadne was forced back to them. Her body rocking in a sick dance as the electric charge of the machine ran through her.

"Your alright." Arthur shouted as he brought her back to him.

"Arthur." She coughed. Trying to remember to breath.

Her gaze finding a small door she had not noticed before because of the snow fall. The Architect not even seeing the Monster, who had concealed herself in the shadows.  
>"I know... I think I know where they are." Ariadne breathed. Her blood pumping in her body. Making her feel more alive then ever.<p>

"Go." Arthur commanded. Pushing her to the door. The Architect didn't mind the snow now. Didn't feel the cold or the shadowy depths of the rock maze. She somehow felt powerful and strong. There were numbers and words worked into the face of the tiny door along with the scroll work. The Architect turning the rusted key until the black spider door swung creaking open.

"Ariadne." Arthur said cautiously.  
>The Architect looked in the dark room behind the door. Two women. Crying and scared.<p>

"I found them." She whispered as the world turned white.

~ The Architect was the first to wake. Her delight at knowing where the women were now caused an exuberant joy to fill her.

"Miss?" The D.A said looking at her oddly as she freed herself from the PASIV machine.

"I know where they are. Their at 1849 Usher St." She said. Her eyes alight with the power of the information.  
>"Let's go." The D.A said nodding to one of the guards. They started to leave the infirmary. With a the remaining guards to watch over the sleeping Monster.<p>

The Architect grabbed her black wool coat and hurried after the D.A not caring about the rest of the Team who was just returning to the waking world. Ignoring Arthur as he called for her to wait.

~ The Police car raced to the deserted part of the county. An industrial complex and the only building at the address was a disused factory.

"Are you _sure _their in here?" The D.A asked shining a flash light around the forgotten equipment. Dirt and debris scattered everywhere.

The living had long ago forsaken this place.

The Architect looked helplessly around the factory. They _had_ to be here. Just had to be. Her eyes almost missed it. The door was small and rusty. It had once been black but time had abused it till all the fine scroll work was hidden by grime.

"Here." She said. Reaching for the handle. It was locked fast.

"We, we need to pry it open! Their inside!" Ariadne shouted excitedly to the guard/ The men searched for and brought back a long metal bar that they used to easily pop the handle off. The little door swung open. The D.A shining his light into the hidden room.

"It's black as pitch in there! I can't see." The man said. Shaking his head.

"Give that to me." Ariadne said crawling on hands and knees. She was the only one there small enough to fit into the door. Into the Monster's cave.

It was dark in that place, She could hear things moving around in the depths. She was no longer afraid of the dark. Her rational intelligent mind working and returning to her.

She shone the flashlight over the large room. Darkness was all around her. It was empty. Or very nearly. Something, huddled there away from the light. One of them moved at the sounds the Architect made.

"Miss? Are they in there?" The D.A shouted. His vision obscured by the darkness that was in the room. The Architect's flashlight was flickering like a candle as she glimpsed eyes peeping out behind the shadows. Pale skin, red lips.

Without any fear at all, Ariadne approached them.  
>"Yes! Their here!" She shouted. "Call an ambulance!" She called out happily.<p>

The two women looked beaten and traumatized. They cried as they held fast to the Architect. Relief at seeing their rescuer.

"It's alright. Your going to be okay." She said soothingly.

She was confident and brave as she sat next to them in the dark. Her old self returning to her. Forgetting that she was ever scared of the the things in the darkness. Forgetting there ever were things in the darkness.

"Were getting you out." She told them.

She was smiling and never felt so happy, when her world went white.


	8. Chapter 8

8.

~ "It worked." The man who looked remarkably like the D.A said.

"Are you sure?" Cobb asked.

"We know what were doing Mr. Cobb." Arabella Marks said casually. The lady with the flame colored hair smiled kindly at the Extractor.

"The fact that she wanted to find the women, succeeded in finding them, lead to her cathartic experience. She vanquished her enemy. Me. She defeated her fear of the darkness and completed the mission."

"How do we know the Queen and the Child won't come back in the dream state?" Arthur asked looking over the still sleeping Architect. Her hands heavily bandaged as she slumbered on. Unaware of what they were saying.

"Because she no longer sees red. Her coat was no longer red in the dream. It was black. The door went from red to black. She stayed focused on the mission. I buried the Queen and the Child so deep in her subconscious that they can not get back out again."  
>"I told you." Eames said happily looking at Marks. "Arabella and her Team here are the best Repressers in the business."<p>

The Represser laughed.

"I will admit this was a lot more interesting then the normal line of work I do. Witnesses who saw things they shouldn't." She admitted.

The two men on her Team who played the part of the Doctor and D.A alike smiled.

"This was not the worst case of dream splintering we've seen." The phoney Doctor told them.  
>"Oh no. We once worked with a gentleman who have five people running around in his mind."<p>

The man who posed as the D.A laughed.

"He's fine now. Back to work in dream extraction like nothing happened." He added.  
>"So she can work in the dreams again?" Cobb asked.<br>"She's too talented a mind to _not_ work in the dreams." Arabella Marks said.

The Represser sighed.  
>"I can repress her memories of the Red Queen and the Child. Had to do both because they are the same. It was the only way. I don't need to tell you that she can never know. Make up a story about what happened to her hands. Make up anything and make her believe it." She said.<p>

~ "I should have listened to you Cobb." Arthur said soberly. "I'm sorry."

They were alone in the warehouse with the sleeping Architect. Eames had seen the Repression Team out. The Extractor sighed as he took a seat next to Ariadne, across from the Point Man.

"There was a time I wouldn't listen to you either." Cobb said.

Arthur looked down at the Architect. Still under the hold of the sedatives.  
>"Do you really think this will work?" Arthur asked.<br>"Eames says it will. He's worked with Marks before. She seems to know her stuff." Cobb assured him.

"God Cobb. I was so scared. Seeing her there with that knife. Her hands cut up. She was asleep. Completely asleep. Wayne telling us about the Queen and the Child in the dreams. I thought she had gotten better." The Point Man looked exhausted despite his resent sleep as he went into the dream with Marks and her Team.

"I know. I went through all this with Mal, remember? The important thing now, is that we don't lose Ariadne the same way." Cobb said assuredly.

"It must have been unbearable for her. Hearing voices in the dark, the snakes." He shook his head and brushed a errant strand of hair from her face.

The Point Man and the Team had journeyed down into the Architect's dreams after she had cut her own hands just hours before.

Cobb, still suspecting that she was losing her grasp on what was real. His fears were founded as they watched, helpless, to her falling victim to the things in the darkness. The snakes and the Red Queen were still looming in her mind. It was Eames who suggested they bring in outside help.

Arabella Marks had presented a radical idea of inception/regression. She posed as a serial killer to make Ariadne see her as a true villain. One that needed to be stopped at all costs.

Arthur had been leery of the levels of dreaming. The first being the infirmary where they all went under with Marks as a killer needing to get information from. The second layer, the forgotten maze under the snow fall. Finally the third, deep in the Architect's subconscious where the Red Queen and Child were now locked away.

"We just have to do what Marks said." Cobb told him. "We have to make up a lie about what happened to her hands, and make her believe it."

~ Ariadne came awake feeling like she had slept far too long. In a way, she had. Her head and body hurt as she fought her way back into the waking world.

"Hey, looks who's awake." Arthur's deep reassuring voice reached her.  
>"Arthur?" She croaked. Realizing her throat was sore. She was in their bed, the covers felt warm and safe as night was falling.<p>

"I've got you some water. How do you feel?" He asked setting a glass on her night stand as he sat on her bed next to her.  
>"Terrible." She confessed. Her limbs feeling clumsy as she reached for the glass.<p>

The white bandages covering her hands shocked her.  
>"Your alright." Arthur assured her.<br>"What... what happened?" She asked her eyes having trouble focusing.

"We were cooking dinner last night. You slipped and cut your hands open with a knife." He told her believably. I took you to the ER and they stitched you up. Gave you pain medication. You've been asleep for hours." He said honestly.

"Oh my God." She said taking all of it in.

Remembering her hands bleeding. Blood on the floor. Arthur calling her name.

"That's so _stupid_." She said. Mad at herself.

He laughed.

"Yeah you were mad when it happened to." He said. "They said you might not remember because of the pain medication." He told her. The Architect took her water and drank till the glass was empty.

"Are you hurting? Are you hungry?" He asked.  
>"No, I'm not hurting." She said numbly looking at the white bandages. "Yes, I'm hungry." She admitted.<br>"I'll fix you something." he said leaping off her bed.

~ She clumsily ate the soup Arthur brought her. Asked some questions about her accident and seemed satisfied by the answers.

"Don't tell Cobb and Eames I accidentally cut myself." She asked. "I still have to work with them and they will never let me forget it."

Arthur laughed.  
>"What do you want me to tell them? That you got into a knife fight with an mugger?" He asked.<br>"That will work." Ariadne smiled.

Her confidence, her courage was back. As if her mind had been washed clean of all memories of the Red Queen. The fearful things that came with it. Her eyes were bright and happy, like they had been before the accident that caused the Queen's birth.

"I think those pain meds are still working. I'm tired." She admitted. Putting her empty bowl on her tray and yawning.

"Go back to sleep." He told her happily taking her tray away.

"I had the strangest dreams when I was asleep." She said.

"What about?" Arthur asked, cautiously.

The Architect thought.

"I... I can't remember." She faltered. Searching her mind for the memory only to find the dreams had been lost.

She shook her head freeing herself of the idea.

"Can you turn off the lights?" She asked as she pulled the blankets over her.  
>"Are you sure?" He asked. "It's dark outside."<br>"Course I'm sure. I can't sleep with the light on." She told him.

~ Deep within the recesses of the Architect's mind, the Child cowered in the dark cold well.

"Hello?" She called out feebly.

Feeling herself fade away. Becoming less then a memory.

"I'm frightened." She breathed as the cold took her away. The well was empty as the black water was still.

Darkness there and nothing more.

~ End ~

** Thank You all so much for reading. I'm sorry it took so long to post up. I was literally tossing out entire chapters of this story because I suddenly didn't like them.**

** I hope you enjoyed the death of the Red Queen. She was a fun one. **

** I wonder if anyone noticed the "1849 Usher" reference. Poe died in 1849. Usher as in "The Fall of the House of Usher". **


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